NASA said Tuesday it has chosen SpaceX to build a vehicle to carry the International Space Station back through Earth’s atmosphere to its final resting place in the Pacific Ocean, when it retires in 2030.
Elon Musk’s company has been awarded a contract with a potential value of $843 million to develop and deliver the spacecraft, named the US Deorbit Vehicle.
“Selecting a U.S. deorbit vehicle for the International Space Station will help NASA and its international partners ensure a safe and responsible transition to low Earth orbit at the end of station operations,” NASA’s Ken Bowersox said in a statement.
NASA plans to take ownership of the spacecraft after SpaceX builds it and control its operations throughout the mission.
We have selected @SpaceX Develop and deliver a U.S. deorbit vehicle and prepare for safe and responsible deorbit @space Station after the end of its operational life in 2030. Learn more: pic.twitter.com/5pyBPfobkp
— NASA (@NASA) June 26, 2024
Weighing 430,000 kilograms (950,000) lb, the ISS is the heaviest single structure ever built in space.
Based on previous observations of how other stations such as Mir and Skylab disintegrated upon re-entering the atmosphere, NASA engineers expect the orbital outpost to break up in three stages.
First, the huge solar arrays and radiators that keep the orbital lab cool will break apart, then individual modules will break away from the trusses, or backbone structure of the station. Finally, the trusses and modules themselves will break apart.
Most of the material will vaporize, but large fragments are expected to survive. For this reason, NASA is targeting an area of the Pacific Ocean called Point Nemo, one of the most remote areas in the world and known as a graveyard of satellites and spacecraft.
The first segment of the ISS was launched in 1998, and has been manned by an international crew continuously since 2001.
Partner countries the United States, Japan, Canada and the European Space Agency (ESA) have committed to operating the microgravity laboratory until 2030 – although the fifth partner, Russia, has only committed to operating until 2028.
NASA chief Bill Nelson told Congress in April that given the poor state of U.S.-Russia relations, it would be wise to begin work on a U.S. deorbit vehicle “to bring the entire station down in a safe manner so that it doesn’t harm anyone or anything.”
Several companies are working on commercial successors to the ISS, including Axiom Space and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.
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